Re: Federal agents' visit was a hoax

[Anthony Rodgers <Anthony_Rodgers () dnv org>]

I think it's the reputations of the media agencies that ran with the  
story that should suffer.....

.... assuming, of course, that they had any to start with....

On 24-Dec-05, at 5:51 AM, Larry Seltzer wrote:

> Awwww... He cried to mommy and daddy! What a shame.
>
> The guy is 22, he should have his name published so his reputation  
> can suffer accordingly.
>
> Larry Seltzer
> eWEEK.com Security Center Editor
> http://security.eweek.com/
> http://blog.ziffdavis.com/seltzer
> Contributing Editor, PC Magazine
> larryseltzer () ziffdavis com
>
>
> From: funsec-bounces () linuxbox org [mailto:funsec- 
> bounces () linuxbox org] On Behalf Of Richard M. Smith
> Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2005 8:19 AM
> To: funsec () linuxbox org
> Subject: [funsec] Federal agents' visit was a hoax
>
> http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-05/12-24-05/a01lo719.htm
>
> Federal agents' visit was a hoax
> Student admits he lied about Mao book
> By AARON NICODEMUS, Standard-Times staff writer
>
>  NEW BEDFORD -- The UMass Dartmouth student who claimed to have  
> been visited by Homeland Security agents over his request for "The  
> Little Red Book" by Mao Zedong has admitted to making up the entire  
> story.
>  The 22-year-old student tearfully admitted he made the story up to  
> his history professor, Dr. Brian Glyn Williams, and his parents,  
> after being confronted with the inconsistencies in his account.
>  Had the student stuck to his original story, it might never have  
> been proved false.
>  But on Thursday, when the student told his tale in the office of  
> UMass Dartmouth professor Dr. Robert Pontbriand to Dr. Williams,  
> Dr. Pontbriand, university spokesman John Hoey and The Standard- 
> Times, the student added new details.
>  The agents had returned, the student said, just last night. The  
> two agents, the student, his parents and the student's uncle all  
> signed confidentiality agreements, he claimed, to put an end to the  
> matter.
>  But when Dr. Williams went to the student's home yesterday and  
> relayed that part of the story to his parents, it was the first  
> time they had heard it. The story began to unravel, and the  
> student, faced with the truth, broke down and cried.
>  It was a dramatic turnaround from the day before.
>  For more than an hour on Thursday, he spoke of two visits from  
> Homeland Security over his inter-library loan request for the 1965,  
> Peking Press version of "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung,"  
> which is the book's official title.
>  His basic tale remained the same: The book was on a government  
> watch list, and his loan request had triggered a visit from an  
> agent who was seeking to "tame" reading of particular books. He  
> said he saw a long list of such books.
>  In the days after its initial reporting on Dec. 17 in The Standard- 
> Times, the story had become an international phenomenon on the  
> Internet. Media outlets from around the world were requesting  
> interviews with the students, and a number of reporters had been  
> asking UMass Dartmouth students and professors for information.
> ...
> <tab.gif>
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